On Monday, Public Defender Ryan Norris withdrew a motion to suppress evidence, paving the way for Judge Gary R. Cottrell to announced a trial date.

Norris also asked McClure-Hajek, who is being held at the Crawford County Detention Center on $500,000 bond, be released without bail.

Norris filed the motion July 19, citing McClure-Hajek has not been brought to trial in the allowable nine months, thus denying her a speedy trial.

Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune objected, stating the time McClure-Hajek waited on and underwent a mental exam could not be counted against the nine months.

McClure-Hajek was deemed fit to stand trial.

In a forensic evaluation report, Dr. Paul Deyoub of Little Rock said he found McClure-Hajek has the capacity to understand the proceedings against her and has the capacity to effectively assist in her defense.

“At the time of the examination, she did not have a mental disease or a mental defect,” Deyoub wrote after conducting the evaluation on March 13. He said she understands the “criminality of her conduct” and the “capacity to conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.”

Deyoub’s report states McClure-Hajek was born and raised with two sisters in upstate New York. After living in Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Texas, she used her savings to buy five acres in Franklin County in 2011.

The report states she was living in a steel outbuilding with no running water, electricity or gas while trying to build a permanent house.

Richards, an employee of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, was working at the site when the incident occurred. Witnesses said she was shot when she approached McClure-Hajek’s pickup.

When Van Buren police arrived at the scene, they found Richards’ body on the ground behind her AHTD pickup. She had been shot twice in the neck.

Holding a handgun, McClure-Hajek approached an officer. She dropped the gun without resistance and was transported to Sparks Regional Medical Center for treatment of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the leg that was apparently accidental.

Before being booked into jail, McClure-Hajek told investigators she carried a .22-caliber Ruger as protection because she thought someone was after her. She was in a vehicle accident before coming to the rest stop, where she stayed all night.

McClure-Hajek said Richards approached her once, told her to move her truck, saw the gun and retreated, only to return a short time later.

Although she did not remember shooting Richards or herself, McClure-Hajek said she might have fired on the AHTD worker out of fear. As for the self-inflicted wound, she said one of her dogs jumped onto her lap, which might have made the gun discharge into her leg.

First-degree murder is a Class Y felony, punishable by 10 to 40 years or life in prison.